Former workers at Nevsun’s Bisha mine in Eritrea filed a civil claim in British Columbia’s Supreme Court on Thursday alleging that the company facilitated forced labor, “[a] form of slavery,” as well as crimes against humanity and other human rights abuses at the mine.

The plaintiffs, Gize Yebeyo Araya, Kesete Tekle Fshazion and Mihretab Yermane Tekle, are refugees who escaped from Eritrea, according to the statement of civil claim.

Cruel conditions

According to a 2014 World Report on Eritrea from Human Rights Watch, the country is one of the most closed in the world, and arbitrary detentions and severe restrictions on freedom of expression are the norm. Over 305,000 people have fled the country within the past 10 years, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees states, and according to the 2014 World Press Freedom Index put out by Reporters Without Borders, Eritrea beat out 179 countries, including North Korea, to come in last place in terms of press freedom.

As is required in the country, Nevsun has partnered with the Eritrean government on Bisha — it owns a 60-percent stake in the mine, while Eritrean National Mining owns the remaining 40 percent.

The statement of civil claim filed Thursday states that Nevsun engaged the Segen and Mereb construction companies, as well as the Eritrean military — all of which use conscripted labor from Eritrea’s indefinite military service program — for the construction of the mine. The three former mine workers were “subjected to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment as well as harsh working conditions including long hours, malnutrition and forced confinement for little pay.” Conditions included working six days a week, sometimes in extreme heat, while being housed in confined camps when not at work.

Between 2008 and 2012, over 1,000 Eritrean nationals were forced to work at the Bisha mine. The mine workers are seeking damages from Nevsun under domestic British Columbian law and are bringing the action on behalf of other laborers at the mine.

Allegations denied

For its part, Nevsun has denied the allegations, and has said it will vigorously defend itself against the claim. In a statement released Thursday, Nevsun CEO Cliff Davis stated that the mine has “adhered at all times to international standards of governance, workplace conditions, and health and safety,” and that the company is “confident” that the allegations against it are unfounded.

The company also drew attention to an independent human rights impact assessment conducted in 2014, which cites workers and stakeholders as believing that “wages at the Bisha Mine are attractive and higher than those paid in other sectors.”

Still, the statement filed against the company suggests that by entering into a commercial relationship with Eritrea and with contractors who “had been credibly implicated in the use of forced labour,” Nevsun has either expressly or implicitly condoned the practice at Bisha. The company could not be reached for further comment.

The importance of jurisdiction

It’s interesting to note that Nevsun’s share price didn’t suffer as much as one might have expected as a result of the news. After gaining 13 percent on the TSX on Thursday’s rumors of an acquisition by mining fund QKR, shares of the company lost just a penny on Friday to finish at $4.71, and Nevsun actually gained $0.03 on its NYSEMKT listing.

Still, the allegations will remind investors to consider jurisdictional risks when investing in mining companies. Market watchers will no doubt be keeping an eye on the case as the situation unfolds.

Securities Disclosure: I, Teresa Matich, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.

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"The unique thing about these Scottish proposals is that they drill down into our public services to make our communities an unwelcome place for trafficking.

"I look forward to meeting with Kenny MacAskill to get a full understanding of the government's intentions. These proposals must be enacted in full. They work as a package with robust law and legal rights for victims to get the care that they need.

"Scotland will be a beacon to the world with these robust anti-trafficking laws once they are passed."

The Scottish Government intends to consolidate and strengthen existing criminal law against human trafficking, enhance the status of and support for victims and give statutory responsibility to relevant agencies to work with the Scottish Government to develop and implement a Scottish anti-trafficking strategy

Mr MacAskill said: "Human trafficking is a crime than transcends borders, and we will continue to work with the UK and Northern Irish Governments as we develop our Bill proposals.

"We are also grateful to Jenny Marra MSP for her interest in this agenda - the responses to her consultation on a possible Member's Bill confirmed strong support for Scottish human trafficking legislation.

"The work of the cross-party group on human trafficking has also been invaluable in raising awareness of this issue. Human trafficking is a matter of criminal law as well as victim support and it is right that legislation on this issue should be led by Scottish Ministers.

"Ultimately, we are determined to develop legislation that gives our police, prosecutors and other agencies the powers to make Scotland a hostile environment for human traffickers, but also helps to identify and support the needs of victims."

Robert McCrea, chief executive officer of Migrant Help, said: "As an organisation we have been continuously impressed by the way the Scottish Government approaches issues of human trafficking and modern day slavery. Victims support has always been caring and sophisticated.

"Therefore we understand why the Scottish Government would wish to formalise this work by compounding the best practice and experience into a bill proposal."

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Progress: Scotland Yard boss Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe has admitted that there has been movements in the McCann case, suggesting that officers are closing in on the person that abducted her

Britain's most senior police officer has suggested his officers are closing in on the people who abducted Madeleine McCann.

Scotland Yard boss Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe admitted his officers have the names of suspects and that ‘some progress’ is being made in the inquiry.

But he declined to be drawn on when the suspects would be quizzed over her disappearance in Portugal seven years ago.

He told BBC’s Radio 5 Live: ‘We have sent three letters of request for international assistance to the Portuguese judiciary, because that is the way their system works.

‘We have got lines of inquiry which are different to the Portuguese Police’s and we are working with them to try to resolve that.

'We are making some progress.’

Asked by presenter Nicky Campbell whether his officers had the names of suspects, he replied: ‘That is correct’.

He declined to comment further.

Sir Bernard’s comments came after the Mail revealed exclusively last month that the Met has identified three burglars as prime suspects for Madeleine’s disappearance.

Analysis of mobile phone data suggests the men were close to the scene of her abduction, at the time she went missing, and that they were in close contact with each other in the hours that followed.

Following our revelations, Portuguese newspapers reported that three former Ocean Club workers are Scotland Yard’s prime suspects over her disappearance.

Details of the men’s alleged links to the Mark Warner-run resort in the Algarve, where Maddie vanished from in 2007, were revealed in a number of Portuguese newspapers with close links to local police.

They were disclosed two days after Portuguese police had a high-level meeting with a visiting Scotland Yard delegation late last month.

At the meeting, Met detectives are reported to have requested bank details of the men, who are thought to have carried out a series of break-ins at the Ocean Club in the run up to Maddie’s disappearance.

Although local media reported the men had been employed at the Ocean Club complex in Praia da Luz, it was not clear whether they were working there at the time Madeleine went missing in May 2007.

Nor was it clear whether they were directly employed by Mark Warner, or through a contractor.

Madeleine McCann went missing in 2007, and local media have reported that certain people of interest in the case had links to where she vanished from

Madeleine, who was then nearly four, disappeared from her family’s holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in the Algarve on May 3 2007 as her parents dined at a nearby restaurant with friends.

It is now known that between January and May 2007 there had been a four-fold increase in the number of burglaries in the area.

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The United States government says Ghanaian women are being forced into prostitution and forced labour in foreign countries, particularly in the Middle East.

According to the US State Department’s Trafficking in Persons Report 2013, Ghanaian women migrating to the Middle East to work are forced into prostitution upon their arrival.

The report attributed the phenomenon to the, emergence of fraudulent recruitment agencies that advertised locally for jobs abroad, generally in the domestic service and retail sectors.

Ghanaian women and children are recruited and transported to Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, The Gambia, South Africa, Israel, Syria, Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Russia, France, the United Kingdom, Germany, and the United States for forced labour and prostitution,” it said.

The report also revealed that women and girls voluntarily migrating from China, Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, and Benin are subjected to commercial sexual exploitation after arriving in Ghana.

It noted that citizens from other West African countries are subjected to forced labour in Ghana in agriculture or domestic service.

“Ghana is a country of origin, transit, and destination for men, women, and children subjected to forced labour and sex trafficking,” it stated.

The report said the trafficking of Ghanaians, particularly children, within the country is more prevalent than the transnational trafficking of foreign migrants.

“Ghanaian boys and girls are subjected to conditions’ of forced labour within the country in fishing, domestic service, street hawking, begging, portering, artisanal gold mining, and agriculture. Ghanaian girls, and to a lesser extent boys, are subjected to prostitution within Ghana,” it added.

According to the report, child prostitution, and possibly child sex tourism, is prevalent in the Volta Region and is growing in the oil-producing Western Region.

The report said during the reporting period, the government initiated 75 trafficking investigations and secured three convictions and this demonstrates a significant decrease from the previous reporting period, when the government initiated 91 investigations and convicted 29 traffickers.

It noted that all three offenders were convicted for sex trafficking offenses; two received five-year prison sentences and one received a seven-year sentence.

The report indicted the Government of Ghana of not fully complying with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so.

The government also drafted a new five-year national action plan and continued to conduct information and education campaigns throughout the country.

At the close of the reporting period, two prosecutions and 42 investigations remained pending.

In October 2012, the Government of Ghana collaborated with the Government of Burkina Faso in an INTERPOL-led operation, which resulted in the rescue of 387 child trafficking victims from various West African nations subjected to forced labour in gold mines and cotton fields in Burkina Faso; the Ghanaian Police sent 16 officers to participate in the operation and assisted in 30 arrests.

During November and December 2012, the government began an operation against sex trafficking in close co-operation with the Government of Nigeria’s National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons and Other Related Matters (NAPTIP); as a result of this operation, authorities rescued 82 Nigerian and 41 Ghanaian victims and apprehended 10 Nigerian and six Ghanaian suspected trafficking of-fenders.

As a result of these investigative efforts, five prosecutions were completed during the reporting period; one additional case is pending.

The report recommended to government to increase efforts to investigate and prosecute trafficking offenses, convict and punish trafficking offenders to ensure that the police’s Anti-Human Trafficking Unit (AHTU) discharges its duties effectively.

Source: The Finder

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]]>dave.lohan@gmail.com (David)NewsMon, 05 Aug 2013 14:42:39 +0000Forced labour is rife in Britain, now what are we going to do about it?http://palermoprotocol.com/index.php/component/k2/item/3571-forced-labour-is-rife-in-britain-now-what-are-we-going-to-do-about-it
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When the recent textile factory disasters in Bangladesh revealed the conditions in which thousands of workers toil to bring the world cheap clothing, many of us decided we could do without some of the high street brands which tacitly enable such modern slavery to flourish.

But who picks our fruit and veg, cleans the hotels rooms we stay in and the hospitals we depend on? Who is washing up in the restaurant you had dinner in last week?

A major report published today gives the lie to this. It shows that forced labour – in which someone works in what are effectively slavery conditions – is a serious and growing problem within the UK itself.

The road to Wilberforce

We know that forced labour has been a feature of societies from the earliest written accounts, whether in Greek and Roman societies or that of the Israelites in Egypt. Britain made extensive use of forced labour – commonly known as slavery – a process which it industrialised through the transatlantic slave trade in the 17th to 19th centuries to support its own process of industrialisation and economic growth.

The slave trade was legally abolished by Britain in 1807, and abolished throughout the Empire in 1833. Although slavery continued to be a feature of Britain’s imperial possessions, it was assumed by most that it was no longer anything to do with the UK.

Although the worldwide existence of slavery and forced labour was highlighted by the ILO’s Anti-Slavery Conventions after the end of the first world war and by the historic and first Forced Labour Convention in 1930, understandings within the UK of forced labour tended to be shaped by these historic associations or, later on, by accounts of labour camps and gulags in fascist or Stalinist regimes in the 1930s and 1940s or, more recently, in authoritarian states such as Myanmar.

Trafficking and slavery

Most discussion of modern slavery within the UK continues to focus on the issue of trafficking for sexual purposes. For example, the Centre for Social Justice’s recent report on slavery within the UK, It Happens Here, is overwhelmingly concerned with trafficking for sexual purposes, perhaps because that presents far fewer political problems for government than does forced labour with its ramifications of labour exploitation in the private economy. Similarly, although the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Trafficking claims to be concerned with forced labour, trafficking remains strongly the focus of its discussions. This is a gap which needs to be addressed.

Legally, the emergence of forced labour as a distinct but sometimes related issue to trafficking was compromised by the fact that to prove forced labour it was necessary also to demonstrate an element of trafficking and forced labour cases often then had to resort to European legal processes to achieve success.

In 2009, however, forced labour became a separate criminal offence. Trafficking and forced labour are different issues and offences, and the report found that an increasing proportion of trafficking victims identified through anti-trafficking processes actually relate to labour exploitation and domestic servitude. The latter cases are also increasing in number despite the fact that government has made it more difficult for cases to emerge because of the change in visa arrangements for domestic workers.

We are going backwards

Case law is very thin at present and some cases heard to date been quite unhelpful. The nature of forced labour is still very imperfectly understood even amongst the judiciary and certainly amongst the public at large. We need, however, a clearer understanding of what forced labour looks like here and now in the UK and other so-called advanced economies.

Of course, how it is possible to use the word “advanced” in the context of a labour market which permits physical, sexual and psychological violence to be done alongside the theft of identity documents, the creation of what is effectively debt bondage, accommodation in the most appalling conditions, and working conditions which throw us back into Victorian or earlier historical epochs – is indeed a moot point.

Government – despite its rhetorical support for events such as Anti-Slavery Day – is actually creating the conditions for forced labour to flourish by visa changes, by undermining the regulatory system and cutting back the resources of those trying to police it. If it is serious, government needs to reverse its current direction of travel and take this form of modern slavery seriously – now.

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It would be easy to dismiss Sutovic as grief-crazed, desperate to refute claims that her son was a heroin addict who died as a result of his own actions.

Except there is compelling evidence, accepted by human rights organisation Amnesty International, several forensic and medical experts, former senior police officers and, more recently, the Serbian judiciary, that Petar’s death was suspicious.

Prior to these tragic events, Susan Sutovic was a prominent human rights lawyer. Working in Britain, she had gained a reputation for legally assisting those who had opposed the government of former president Slobodan Milosevic. She had many dangerous enemies. So, in July 2004, after repeated prevarications by both the British and Serbian authorities, Susan decided to go to Belgrade herself, with two private detectives, both of whom were former police officers and experts in murder investigations.

The detectives thoroughly examined the apartment in which Petar died and found blood in the bedroom, hall, bathroom and kitchen, suggesting there had been a violent struggle. This conclusion was lent extra weight when Susan finally saw the photographs taken by police on the night Petar died, which showed Petar’s face badly beaten and his bed soaked in blood.

Subsequent tests also revealed that the brown liquid in the spoon on Petar’s bedside table – supposedly heroin – was in actual fact holy oil from Jerusalem that Petar carried with him in a small glass bottle, and the morphine in his blood was not the type produced by heroin, but the type associated with a prescription painkiller, Tramadol, which Petar had been using since a road traffic accident in 2000. Susan believes whoever killed Petar beat him up, changed his clothes, rearranged the room to make it look like he’d taken an overdose and then, at some point, took his heart to sell on the black market.

Before her son died, Sutovic ran a successful legal practice and tells me her life was full and happy. These days she mostly devotes her time to uncovering the truth of Petar's death.

Chain-smoking, Sutovic pushes the police photographs of Petar towards me. “You can see my son,” she says. “Could you believe what they did to me, that the pathologist said there were no injuries? There’s blood everywhere, his nose is badly broken and split at the bridge, there are blood bubbles in the corner of his mouth that suggests he was still alive when the photograph was taken.”

I ask who she believes killed him. “All I know is that he was murdered. I remember Petar saying to me, ‘If you can learn to live in Serbia you can live anywhere in the jungle.’ You expect corruption there. I did not expect I would have to battle for justice here in Britain.”

Last year the first case of illegal organ harvesting in Britain was unveiled by the Salvation Army, which provides support to victims of human trafficking. In a report, the organisation said a criminal gang had brought an unnamed woman into the country with the intention of removing her organs and selling them on to patients desperate for a transplant. It was unclear from the report whether the plot was uncovered before the organ removal took place, but the signs are clear: international organ trafficking is a growing trade.

The growth is down to two factors. First, a reduction in the number of legitimate organs available for transplant – due, in part, to better seatbelt legislation, which has cut the number of healthy young adults dying prematurely in road traffic accidents. And, second, an increase in the number of people waiting for transplants which have become more routine in recent years. As a result, organised criminals can now make a fortune from unethical clinics who will buy a heart, kidney or pancreas for wealthy patients.

It is now possible to order an organ on the internet. It’s also possible, if you are poor, desperate, and willing to part with, say, a kidney, to broker a deal with traffickers. Recent research by the World Health Organisation (WHO) found that traffickers illegally obtain 7,000 kidneys each year around the world.

Organ trafficking operates in various ways. Victims can be kidnapped and forced to give up an organ; some, out of financial desperation, agree to sell an organ; or they are duped into believing they need an operation and the organ is removed without their knowledge. Some victims are murdered to order if a large sum has been paid in advance. This is what Susan Sutovic thinks happened to her son.

This illegal trade has risen to such a level that an estimated 10,000 black-market operations involving purchased human organs now take place annually – more than one every hour – according to WHO. It estimates that organ trafficking accounts for five to 10 per cent of all kidney transplants worldwide.

Children, especially those from poor backgrounds or children with disabilities, are often targeted. In May this year, an eight-year-old British schoolgirl died at a clinic in India, and her family say they suspect she was “murdered” by medics intent on harvesting her organs. Gurkiren Kaur Loyal’s parents took her to see a doctor in the Punjab, when she began suffering from dehydration, and within seconds of receiving an injection she collapsed and died. During the post mortem, Gurkiren’s organs were removed and have not been returned. The Birmingham coroner told the family that without them, or the Indian post mortem report, he is unable to record a cause of death.

But the most grievous case so far unocovered is in the former Yugoslav republic of Kosovo. Last month five men were convicted of involvement in an organ-trafficking ring that performed at least 24 illegal kidney transplants at the Medicus clinic on the outskirts of the capital, Pristina. Lutfi Dervishi, the clinic’s director, and his son, Arban, were sentenced to eight and seven years respectively. They had promised donor victims about £12,500 each for kidneys that were then sold on the black market for as much as £84,000 a time, but donors had often gone unpaid and, in the words of the lead prosecutor, Jonathan Ratel, were “literally cast aside at the airport”.

The case came to light in late 2008 when a young Turkish man, Yilmaz Altun, collapsed at Pristina airport before boarding a flight to Istanbul. Doctors discovered a large, fresh wound on his abdomen and he later admitted he’d struck a deal with the clinic to have his left kidney removed. When police arrived at Medicus they found an elderly Israeli man on his way to the operating theatre to receive Altun’s kidney. Most of the organs harvested by Medicus had been sold to recipients in Israel, Canada, Poland and Germany.

Eulex, Europe’s rule of law mission to Kosovo, which brought the case, is now investigating whether any government figures were involved in the scandal.Nato documents, leaked in 2011, claimed Kosovo’s prime minister, Hashim Thaçi, was the head of a “mafia-like” network responsible for organ trafficking and other criminal activities.

Lutfi Dervishi, who was convicted of illegally harvesting organs at his Medicus clinic, in Kosovo

Prices vary, but a heart can fetch up to £1million. And parts are not only used for transplants; there is a demand for illicit experimentation on whole cadavers by unethical scientists, as well as a market in hip and knee replacements. Penises and foetuses have been used in juju rituals, also known as “black magic”, and used to instill terror into vulnerable victims. Last year a Nigerian-born man living in Kent was convicted of trafficking children into prostitution whom he had initially subjected to juju.

In Britain, it is illegal to sell an organ, although some desperate folk have been tempted. (With at least a million people worldwide waiting for a kidney transplant at any given time, the demand is unquestionably out there.)

One man attempted to sell his kidney on eBay, only to have it pulled by the site – but not before the price reached $5,750. And in 2011, 24-year-old Nicky Johnson, from Stockport, placed an advert on a Russian website, offering to donate a kidney “if the money was right”. One of more than a dozen Brits on the site, Johnson said he would travel abroad for surgery. The operation takes up to three hours and requires a two-day stay in hospital. Post-operative infection is a serious risk.

In one of the most tragic cases to come to light, a disabled single mother in Spain was found attempting to auction off one of her kidneys, corneas, a lung and a piece of her liver online because she cannot afford her monthly rent and is facing eviction.

The inquest into the death of Petar Sutovic opened in London in 2004. An open verdict was recorded after concluding Petar had died from an overdose of morphine. “It was the wrong result, and not based on the evidence available,” says Sutovic. After a two-year campaign, during which she, along with private detectives, gathered huge amounts of new information, Susan was granted a second inquest, which she hoped would return a verdict of unlawful killing. But the inquest never happened, because legal arguments ensued about whether or not it was necessary to exhume Petar’s body.

The newly appointed coroner had applied for exhumation of the body after the Metropolitan Police gave the view that it was crucial to any new investigation. But Sutovic, supported by Petar’s brother and father, strongly opposed the move on religious grounds. The family argued that the truth about Petar’s death could be established by evidence that had already been put before the coroner, as well as by other avenues of inquiry that would not require a third post mortem. To date, over £1 million of public funds have been spent arguing about the inquests and exhumation.

Today, Susan Sutovic continues her fight for justice and has instructed Belgrade-based lawyer Djuro Cepic to represent her. Cepic tells me he is hopeful that the truth will soon emerge, and that the Serbian High Court has just granted his request to open a full investigation into the circumstances surrounding Petar’s death. “This is very good because it will involve interviewing the doctors who first dealt with this young man’s body, hopefully with myself and Ms Sutovic present,” says Cepic.

I ask Sutovic what it is she hopes for. She answers clearly and without hesitation. “I can’t bring my son back but he has a right to a soul, to rest in peace. This was a young man in the prime of his life, and I know he did not die of an overdose, and there are those out there who know the truth. How can either of us rest until we find out exactly what happened on that night?”

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Days after her husband’s landmark human trafficking conviction, an emotional Nicole Huen broke her silence to respond to what she says was a hurtful and inaccurate depiction of her family by prosecutors.

“The Crown has tried to make us look like a super rich, cold-hearted and nasty couple,” she told a small group of media outside her lawyer’s office on Friday. She spoke carefully in broken English and read from a prepared statement.

Her husband, Franco Orr, was convicted Wednesday of human trafficking, employing a foreign national illegally and misrepresenting facts that could induce an error. Ms. Huen was acquitted on charges of human trafficking and employing a foreign national illegally.

No one had heard from Ms. Huen prior, as she did not take the stand during the month-long trial.

In a five-minute statement, the mother of three said hers was an ordinary family that lived on modest means. After selling their property in Hong Kong, they still could not afford a down-payment for a condo in Vancouver, which is why the family moved in with her parents and brother.

“Nine people under the same roof, including the complainant in this case,” she said. “We occupied 700 square feet of the house.”

Nanny Leticia Sarmiento lied about what happened during her employment with the couple in Canada in an effort to become a permanent resident in Canada, Ms. Huen suggested.

“[Ms. Sarmiento] said that we never bathed any of the kids once by ourselves in two years, never fed one of them by ourselves in two years. Isn’t that hard to believe? I suppose it is the only way that she could explain how she could work 16 hours a day in a space of 700 square feet.”

During the trial, Mr. Orr told the court he had suffered a catastrophic business failure and had advised Ms. Sarmiento to seek work elsewhere, as he could not afford to pay her. In response, he alleged she pleaded to work out more of her contract, as she had previously been fired and a second termination would further tarnish her record. That is why the couple agreed to let her join them in Canada, Mr. Orr said.

Ms. Sarmiento had said she was tricked into coming to Canada on the promise she would become a permanent resident, be paid more and that the couple would help bring her family over from the Philippines. Instead, she said she was forced to work virtually non-stop, prohibited from leaving the home and allowed only one phone call home each month.

“We as Canadian citizens [should be protected] by the law, to have our citizen rights, our proper human rights,” Ms. Huen said Friday. “At the same time, we should not let people abuse the system [and] find their way here by lying. I urge our immigration minister to look closely at this case.”

Mr. Orr has lost his $12-an-hour job as a security guard and Ms. Huen has lost her clients as a realtor, the couple’s lawyer, Nicholas Preovolos said. Her signs have been vandalized.

When asked how she would provide for their three young daughters financially, Ms. Huen burst into tears.

“I don’t know yet … [at the moment] I just receive the childcare from government only. I really don’t know.”

A sentencing date has not yet been set.

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